CJ, thanks so much for bringing up the subject of working the land.
Alright, everyone, we are beginning our new life as a homesteaders, and would appreciate your understanding and patience with our naivety.
We have a piece of land in northeast Texas. We are not yet living there, but plan to do so by the end of 2004 at the earliest. In the meantime, We are building a pole barn and home, having the well dug, etc. We have determined the location for the home garden where we hope to grow enough for our own consumption, with excess being offered through local outlets, farmers markets, etc.
We have raised vegetables at our "city" home using a raised bed system and have had good luck, but we've never had the opportunity or means, as we will have now, to raise more than enough to feed ourselves and our family.
The soil where our garden will be located is sandy loam, easy to work and well drained. The land has been used by a neighbor for many years as extra grazing for his small cattle herd. There have not been cattle on the property for the past nine months. The area is now in bahaia, basically. Some croton, blackberries, vetch, winter grasses, etc., have also been detected.
Our silly question is: Where do we begin? As we are gardening organically, what's the first step (after fencing and soil testing)? We hope to end up using a no-till or ridge-till method of cultivation, but how do we get rid of what's there now in order to begin? Do we till it all under? Do we maybe try to run goats to get rid of weeds, then till the goat manure and remaining grasses under? We're anxious to get started, but not being able to be present on the land (we live 4 hours away), what should we be doing now to prepare the land for the garden. We're talking about a quarter to a half acre.
There is much to learn and We're anxious to hear from those of you who are doing or have done it ... you real farmers out there. Thanks so much for listening and sharing your advice and insight, and being patient with our ignorance. We're on the verge of living as we've wanted to for more years than we can count, and want to get off to a good start.
Peace and smiles,
doohap